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Sunday, January 4, 2009

Soy-Doh

I opened up the New York Times, Education Life section this weekend to read the article on “Students of Invention: 23 Bright Ideas.” The very first innovation is Soy-Doh, a gluten-free play doh. The story is that a few students in agricultural economics were experimenting on creating a gluten-free beer for their professor at Purdue University. Clearly they were not successful as brewers, but the result was a soy based “squishy staple” of the toddler set. From the look and description--pretty colors and fruit flavors--Soy-Doh sounds like a terrific new product for little celiacs.

I never worried about Play Doh when my son was in nursery school so I wonder if I would buy it if I had a celiac toddler today. The homemade nursery school dough was salty and unappetizing, but more importantly their hand washing policy before snack was excellent. It never occurred to me to be worried about Play Doh since my celiac wasn’t eating it. A diagnosis of celiac disease created other worries about overall health and growth, so I chose not to concern myself with occasional use of wheat based Play Doh.

That was my decision at the time and I chose not to think twice about it. Since Soy-Doh presents an alternative, parents of celiac toddlers have more choices today. The New York Times did not include ordering information, so click on Soy-Doh for ordering information.Kendall Egan

No doubt my son ate some Play Doh at nursery school, read my post of The Cheese Nip Debacle. I also know that I used to order a slice of pepperoni pizza, take my finger and rake the cheese, peperoni and sauce off the crust and eat it. Was there gluten in it? Of course and I knew it. But, to err is human and celiacs are human. Sometimes the temptation looms too large and I cave. Stupid? Yes, but perfectly human. I do a bit of damage to my small intestine, gurgle a bit and then forgive myself and move on! My celiac isn't eating Play Doh anymore and I'm now an expert at preparing a gluten-free pepperoni pizza. Live and learn....beeswax candles, however, sound yucky. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!Kendall